Item 190 - Letter from Fr Timothy Kenny SJ to Fr John Ryan SJ concerning Fr Joseph Hearn's brother

Born: 01 February 1843, Tullamore, County Offaly
Entered: 08 January 1872, Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin
Ordained: - pre Entry, St Patrick’s Colege, Maynooth, County Kildare
Final Vows: 15 August 1883
Died: 04 August 1917, St Ignatius Church, Church Road, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Older Brother of Peter - RIP 1912; Uncle of Paddy Kenny - RIP 1973

Father Provincial of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 3 February 1888-2 December 1894
Superior of the Irish Jesuit Mission to Australia Mission: 1 February 1895-11 February 1901

1872-1874: Milltown Park, Sandford Road, Dublin, Novitiate
1874-1875: Sint Jan Berchmans, Rue des Récollets, Leuven, Belgium (BELG), Theology
1875-1888: Coláiste Iognáid SJ, Sea Road, Galway, Teaching
1882-1888: Rector from 01/06/1882, Procurator, Ptereft of Studies, Teaching
1888-1894: St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin, PROVINCIAL from 11/02/1888 to 03/12/1894
1894-1895: St Francis Xavier, Gardiner Street, Dublin, Curate
1895-1901: St Mary’s, Millar Street, Syndey NSW, Australia, SUPERIOR OF MISSION from 01/02/1895
1901-1903: St Ignatius College SJ, Riverview, Cove Lane, Sydney NSW, Australia, Minister, Prefect of church
1903-1916: St Patrick’s College SJ, Cathedral Place, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Rector from 24/06/1903, Procurator, Teaching, Mission Consultor
1916-1917: St Ignatius Church, Church Road, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Curate

◆ HIB Menologies SJ :
He was of a very old Catholic family in Tullamore. His older brother of Peter - RIP 1912

He spent some years studying at Louvain where he passed ad gradum.
When he came back to Ireland he was sent to Galway, and he worked hard in both the School and Church for many years.
1882 He was appointed Rector at Galway, a position he held until he was appointed Provincial by the then Visitor, Robert Fulton (MARNEB) in 1888.
1888 Provincial. He held this post for six years, and during that time he was sent as Visitor to Australia. He was a most successful administrator.
1894 He was sent to Australia. By 07 February 1895 he had been appointed Mission Superior there. He did this for six years as well.
1901 He was appointed Minister at the Sydney College.
1903 He was appointed Rector at St Patrick’s Melbourne, and he remained in this place until 1916.
His last two years were spent at Richmond, and he died there 04 August 1917. He had helped posts of one kind of Superior or another for almost 32 years.

Note from Morgan O’Brien Entry :
1889 In the Autumn of 1889 he accompanied Timothy Kenny and Thomas Browne and some others to Australia

Note from John Murphy Entry :
During his final illness he was well cared for in the community. His needs were attended to by Timothy J Kenny the Superior and George Kelly.

◆ David Strong SJ “The Australian Dictionary of Jesuit Biography 1848-2015”, 2nd Edition, Halstead Press, Ultimo NSW, Australia, 2017 - ISBN : 9781925043280

Timothy Kenny was educated by the Vincentian Fathers at Castleknock, Dublin, and studied for the priesthood at Clonliffe and at Maynooth. After ordination, he worked in the town of Maynooth, and then entered the Jesuit noviciate in Ireland, 8 January 1872, at the age of 29. He revised his theology at Louvain, 1874-75, and taught at Galway, 1875-88, becoming its rector in 1882; he was also prefect of studies. It was here that he became a friend with the bishop of Galway, Dr Carr, who was later archbishop of Melbourne.

His energy and administrative skills were recognised, and he was appointed Provincial of the Irish province until 1894. He visited both the Austrian and Irish missions in Australia in 1889, with a view to negotiate a union. Far from deserving credit for the amalgamation, he dithered over it until the Austrians were out of patience.

Sent to Australia in 1894, Kenny was mission superior until 1901. He resided at North Sydney. After a few years as minister at Riverview, he was appointed rector of St Patrick's College, 1903-16. During that time his letters expressed much concern about the future of the college. He was a tired man, and the many problems of the college added to his depression. During his term of office, compulsory military training was introduced. Former students believed that the discipline learnt during cadet training raised their morale and improved their attitude towards one another.

He spent his last few years doing parish work at St Ignatius', Richmond.

Kenny was a man of many gifts, pious, fullll of zeal, and prudent, even too prudent, but kind and generous to the individual. He seemed to be a man of nervous temperament and lacking in self-confidence - the kind of Superior who is kept in office because he can be relied on not to give trouble. He spent half his Jesuit life in Australia. He brought to the problems of his age a mind attuned to the previous century, fighting against the perceived evils of his day, especially the abuse of the virtue of purity.

Note from Patrick Keating Entry
The Irish provincial, Timothy Kenny, while visiting Australia in 1890 believed Keating to be “the most admirable man I ever met”. That being the opinion that counted, Keating became the next Irish provincial

◆ http://missionaries.griffith.edu.au/missionary-training/jesuits-northern-territory-1882-1902

German Missionaries in Australia

Uncertain future

Perhaps the scandal was not the only reason for the two official visitations in 1896 and 1897. Fr. Timothy Kenny, superior of the Irish mission of the Jesuit Society in Australia, undertook an official visitation (20 May to 8 June 1896) because, as Dalton observes, the Irish and Austrian Jesuits in Australia were considering a merger (which did not take place until 1901).55 Kenny found that there were only 15 children at school, the school building was inadequate and Fr. O’Brien was still only acting in locum tenens in Darwin. In effect the mission was struggling and the diocese was deserted.

Fr. Kenny retracted Fr. McKillop from the mission and his report to Rome instigated a visit (26 May to 19 June 1897) from Fr. Joseph Milz (1841-1915), the former Provincial of the Austrian Society of Jesus, now placed in charge of the Australian Austrian mission. Fr. Milz directed Fr. Conrath and Br. Kramar to Darwin to live with Fr. O’Brien. This left only Fr. Marschner with five Brothers on the mission (Scharmer, Pfalzer, Melzer, Longa, Haelbig) and represented a complete change of guard of the priests, since Fr. Marschner had only returned north in March 1895. Clearly the Jesuit administration was now more interested in cementing the diocese than in the precarious mission venture. The Jesuit staff in the north peaked at 13 (1889 to 1891) and gradually declined again.

The priests, too, were sapped of their enthusiasm. Fr. Kristen had left in 1895 with nervous exhaustion, Fr. McKillop had left in 1896 and Fr. O'Brien was stationed in Darwin as administrator since 1898. Neither Fr. Conrath nor Fr. Marschner were enthusiastic about the prospects of the mission. It would take several generations of Christianising before any lasting results could be achieved, and twenty years of intensive work had not produced commensurate results. The seasonal floods imperiled their economic efforts and risked their lives, and the influence of the elders pulled the children back into tribal society.56 Fr. Milz received 'increasingly desparate letters' while the future of the mission was being considered.57

Four more staff arrived in Adelaide from Europe in December 1898 and all were sent north. Fr. Augustus Fleury (age 44) and the carpenter Br. Joseph Girschik (age 32) reached Darwin on 2 January 1899, but the linguist Fr. John Pfeifer (age 39) and the cook Br. Rupert Haertl (age 41) arrived too late to reach the mission.

The diocese had been devolved to Geraldton Bishop William Bernard Kelly DD (14 February 1898), but for the time being three Jesuits were left in Darwin to administer the diocese (Fr. O’Brien, Fr. Fleury, Br. Melzer). Most of the properties acquired by Fr. Strele were also sold. Fr. O’Brien represented the Bishop while Kelly was still overseas, and stayed on for some time after the Bishop’s return to Geraldton. Some of the couples stayed on at Uniya and Fr. Fleury visited them and the Catholics settled along the railway line occasionally. Fr. O’Brien was farewelled by a delegation of Darwin citicens in April 1902 and the three finally left Darwin in September 1902 while Fr. Ryan from the Geraldton diocese spent two months in Darwin around October 1902. Thereafter Darwin’s still small Catholic community was serviced only by visiting priests travelling through, until Fr. Gsell MSC arrived as the new apostolic administrator in August 1906. Gsell occupied the former Jesuit residence commissioned by Fr. Strele in 1889 and referred to the Jesuit departure from the north as a 'strategic retreat'.58 He invested his energies in the Tiwi mission on Bathurst Island that had already been suggested by the Jesuits as a more promising mission field.